IEA report shows surge in global energy demand for 2024 as heatwaves drive power usage
The International Energy Agency (IEA) says higher temperatures led to a surge in global energy demand for the power sector in 2024.
The agency’s 2025 Global Energy Review found that demand rose by 2.2% last year, considerably faster than the 1.3% average annual increase between 2013 and 2023.
The rise in demand was led by the power sector, with global electricity consumption surging by nearly 1,100 terawatt-hours, or 4.3%—nearly double the annual average over the past decade.
Rising temperatures
The IEA believes rising temperatures drove the sharp increase in the world’s electricity use last year by boosting demand for cooling in many countries.
Rising consumption from industry, the electrification of transport and the growth of data centres and artificial intelligence were also seen as factors.
“There are many uncertainties in the world today and different narratives about energy–but this new data-driven IEA report puts some clear facts on the table about what is happening globally,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said.
Electricity usage up
“What is certain is that electricity use is growing rapidly, pulling overall energy demand along with it to such an extent that it is enough to reverse years of declining energy consumption in advanced economies,” Mr Birol added.
“The result is that demand for all major fuels and energy technologies increased in 2024, with renewables covering the largest share of the growth, followed by natural gas.”
Mr Birol noted that the strong expansion of solar, wind, nuclear power and electric vehicles (EVs) was increasingly loosening the links between economic growth and emissions.
Low-emissions sources
Low-emissions sources were responsible for most of the increase in global electricity demand in 2024.
The amount of new renewable power capacity installed worldwide rose to around 700 gigawatts, setting a new annual record for the 22nd consecutive year.
Natural gas saw the strongest increase in demand among fossil fuels in 2024, while overall gas demand rose by 2.7% – or 115 billion cubic metres (bcm) – compared with an annual average of around 75bcm over the past decade.
Nuclear power up
Nuclear power capacity additions reached their fifth-highest level in the past three decades.
As a result, 80% of the increase in global electricity generation in 2024 was provided by renewable sources and nuclear, which for the first time contributed a combined 40% of total generation.
The supply of natural gas-fired generation also increased steadily to cover rising electricity demand.
Oil demand slowing
On the other side of the ledger, oil demand growth slowed in 2024 to 0.8%, while – 50 years after it peaked at 46% – oil’s share of total energy demand fell below 30% for the first time ever.
Sales of EVs rose by over 25% last year, with electric models accounting for one in five cars sold globally, considerably contributing to the decline in oil demand for road transport.
This offset a significant proportion of the rise in oil consumption for aviation and petrochemicals.
The IEA also found that the continued rapid adoption of clean energy technologies had limited the annual rise in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.